You may remember Aronax's Shortventure contest that led to some very successful entries, however we felt that the contest alienated newer makers. This contest aims to fix that, and our goal is to make it as accessible as possible to people who are not only newer game makers, but have never touched game maker before.

What's the contest?

We want you to make us a short stage! How short? Well, it can be a few screens or relatively long, but we're aiming for something that would take less than a half hour for an experienced player to beat. Think something like one of the stages in Find my Destiny, Run the Marathon, or Spook Jam. Unlike the Shortventure contest, we aren't requiring anything like a title screen, a boss, or any cutscenes. (Although you are completely free to include those if you like!) It is mostly a level design oriented contest where we care most about creative construction of your stage using interesting gimmicks. You should also come up with a name for your stage.

What if I can't code? How do I make my stage?

Good question, and we've accounted for that as much as we can with our own custom engine, called "Not Another Needle Engine" which we will distribute for you all to make your stages in. We've included a plethora of gimmicks that you can just place in the room editor without having to do any code. All you need is to download game maker and you can start making your stage with no coding knowledge whatsoever.

All entries will be made using Game Maker Studio. You can try putting this in your browser to get it through steam: steam://install/214850

Rules1. Your stage needs a beginning and end point, and should be completable within 30 minutes for an experienced player.2. Stage difficulty can be from 10 (i.e. Challenge 100 trials) to 60 (i.e. Find my destiny, Reach Heaven) 3. Your stage cannot be something that you can simply make in jtool. That means no PURE NEEDLE screens.4. No joke / meme stages. You can have jokes or traps in your stage, but please don't make it bad on purpose.5. DO NOT modify any objects that come with the engine! If you need to, just make a duplicate object. (Note, this is referring to directly changing an object in the object editor, not room creation code)6. Please include some custom graphics so your stage stands out. 7. Test your stage.

Info Videos (Provided by Denferok)

Engine Overview:

(click to show/hide)

Quick tutorial for new game makers:

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Q & A

Q: How much creative liberty do I have with my stage?A: You can make virtually anything you want. We highly encourage custom graphics, and some gimmicks or a boss if you are capable of making them!

Q: What will happen after all the entries are in?A: We will judge all of the levels and put them in one big compilation fangame at the end.

Q: Can I submit more than one entry?A: Yes, we will allow at most 2 stages from one person. Only the best of the two will make it in the main game and if we get enough extra stages we will make a bonus area with the extras.

Q: Can I submit jtool maps instead?A: No. Your stage can't be something that can be made in jtool.

Q: Is there a theme like the shortventure contest?A: We have decided not to make a theme for this contest.

Q: If I'm an experienced game maker, can I still join?A: Yes! We aren't aiming to exclude anyone.

Q: Can two people submit as a team?A: Sure, as long as it isn't more than two people.

Q: Do I need to use the custom engine?A: Yes. Don't start making your stage until we release the engine.

Q: Does this have anything to do with NANG?A: Not really, it's more about not having pure needle stages.

Discord Server

If you are thinking about joining, make sure to join our discord server for announcements and information if you need it. We will have a dedicated help channel in the server for anyone who needs help with game maker.

The contest is starting! Here are a few things you need to know before you start working.

- You don't need to make an epic stage, it can be as short as you want it to be.- Don't feel pressured to use any of the gimmicks if you want to make your own.- We are asking that every submission has some kind of custom visuals.- Please add your name to all of your custom assets so they can be managed easier.

We're just about halfway through the month and I hope your stages are coming along well! (Or if you haven't started, that's fine too.) We'd like to get started on planning as early as possible and for this reason I'd really appreciate you to put your name on this form if you plan on submitting an entry.

OK everyone, it isn't quite April 1 yet but i'm going to open up submissions for people who have already finished. When you're uploading your stage for us, remember to upload either a .GMZ or the zipped .GMX. If you need help doing either of these, just ask in the #game-maker-help channel in the discord.